'Lula,' Brazil's Popular Ex-President, Freed From Prison — For Now

Street vendors display merchandise featuring former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, just outside the building in Curitiba where the leader served his prison sentence.

Henry Milleo
/ AFP via Getty Images

Originally published on November 8, 2019 5:10 pm

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is a free man once more.

On Friday, a judge ordered the release of Brazil's popular former president, who is better known simply as "Lula." The order was handed down just one day after the country's Supreme Court ruled that convicted defendants cannot be jailed until their appeals to higher courts have been exhausted.

The court's split decision on Thursday directly applied to da Silva, who on Friday walked out of federal police headquarters in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, where he was greeted with fireworks and flowers, hugs and songs from supporters gathered outside. Da Silva, 74, had spent about a year and a half in prison following his conviction on corruption and money laundering charges.

The former two-term president had been ensnared in a massive corruption probe that has transcended national boundaries and felled a number of prominent figures in politics and business across South America — including one of da Silva's successors in the presidency, Michel Temer, who himself was arrestedearlier this year.

In 2017, da Silva was convicted of trading government contracts for illegal kickbacks and was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison — a punishment that was trimmed to nearly nine years in April. Though he has long professed innocence, thus far his attempts at appeal have failed.

Now, da Silva can remain free as long as appeals of his corruption conviction unfold.

His supporters claim the corruption allegations were part of a plot to derail da Silva's bid for a third term in last year's presidential election, in which he had been a runaway favorite before his legal woes knocked him from the race. Instead, far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro won the presidency.

Since his victory, Bolsonaro's tenure has not been free of controversy. He recently attracted international criticism for his handling of a spate of fires across the Amazon rainforest earlier this year.